Isabella of Brazil

Princess Isabella of Brazil

Isabella when she assumed her third reign in 1887

Isabella Cristina Leopoldina Augusta Micaela Gabriela Rafaela Gonzaga d'Orléans-Braganza (born from Braganza and Naples-Sicily ) (born July 29, 1846 in Rio de Janeiro ; † November 14, 1921 in the Château d'Eu in Normandy ) was the last Crown Princess of Brazil .

Life

Isabella, called Isabel, was the daughter of the Brazilian Emperor Peter II. De Bragança and Princess Teresa Maria Cristina of Naples-Sicily and was born in the Paço de São Cristóvão , the imperial palace in Rio de Janeiro.

She married Gaston d'Orléans, comte d'Eu , a son of Louis Charles d'Orléans, Duc de Nemours and his wife Princess Viktoria von Sachsen-Coburg-Saalfeld-Koháry , on October 15, 1864 in Rio de Janeiro. The marriage had four children:

Dona Luísa Vitória de Orléans e Bragança (* / † July 28, 1874), (stillborn)
Dom Pedro de Alcântara de Orléans e Bragança (1875–1940)
Dom Luís de Orléans e Bragança (1878–1920)
Dom Antônio Gastão de Orléans e Bragança (1881–1918)

She was regent of the Brazilian Empire between May 25, 1871 and March 31, 1872, between March 26, 1876 and September 28, 1876, and between June 30, 1887 and August 22, 1888.

The Golden Law that Abolished Slavery in Brazil

On May 13, 1888, she signed the "Golden Law" ( Lei Áurea ), which abolished slavery . She was able to sign because her father, Emperor Dom Pedro II, was in Europe at the time . Isabella was popularly given the honorary title A Redentora ("the Redeemer") and was given by Pope Leo XIII. honored with a golden rose .

With the signing of the law, Brazil was the last western country to abolish slavery. However, the Lei Áurea also alienated the large landowners from the empire. The Brazilian monarchy was overthrown by a military coup led by Marshal Manuel Deodoro da Fonseca , and on November 15, 1889, the generals proclaimed the republic .

The family fled to France after the fall of the emperor. Here she lived at Château d'Eu in Normandy . Shortly after the end of World War I, she lost her youngest son, who was fatally injured in a plane crash. Her second born died in 1920 as a result of the wounds he had suffered during the war. Like his brother, he served as an officer in the British armed forces, Luíz in the British Army , while Antônio served as an air force pilot in the Royal Air Force .

Isabella died on November 14, 1921 at the age of 75 at the Château d'Eu in France.

Web links

Commons : Princess Isabella of Brazil - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

^ Roderick J. Barman: Princess Isabel of Brazil: gender and power in the nineteenth century . Scholarly Resources, Wilmington 2002, ISBN 978-0-8420-2846-2 , pp. 1 ( google.com ).
↑ Dom António Gastão de Orléans e Bragança on thepeerage.com , accessed on August 20, 2015.

personal data
SURNAME	Isabella of Brazil
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Gonzaga de Bragança, Isabella; Braganza, Isabella from; Gonzaga d'Orléans-Braganza, Isabella Cristina Leopoldina Augusta Micaela Gabriela Rafaela
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Crown Princess of Brazil
BIRTH DATE	July 29, 1846
PLACE OF BIRTH	Rio de Janeiro
DATE OF DEATH	November 14, 1921
PLACE OF DEATH	Eu (Seine-Maritime) , Normandy

[1] Roderick J. Barman: Princess Isabel of Brazil: gender and power in the nineteenth century . Scholarly Resources, Wilmington 2002, ISBN 978-0-8420-2846-2 , pp. 1 ( google.com ).

[2] Dom António Gastão de Orléans e Bragança on thepeerage.com , accessed on August 20, 2015.